The Flash: Dreamlock
by Johanna8D
Summary: Team Flash encounter a meta with the power to trap them in their own personal, worst nightmare. Can they save them from themselves? (Set post 5x08.) Hint of SnowBarry, with WestAllen also. Lots of Caitlin/Cisco/Barry bromance fluff! (No slash)
1. The Nightmares

**So... I just had an idea, a small plot bunny: What would Team Flash's worst nightmares be? And it turned into this story that's all about Caitlin/Cisco/Barry fluff! (No slash) Just bromance and a touch of SnowBarry, but also WestAllen. Just know this is my first Flash fic!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own the characters... those rights belong to the CW.**

 **Beware, there are several mentions of suicidal thoughts! It's pretty dark. If you're easily triggered by such topics, this story probably isn't for you!**

* * *

"Maybe you just need to breach it to a different earth next time," Caitlin suggested.

"Next time?" Cisco exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "You think we'll get another chance to catch Cicada's lightning-bolt-Mjolnir-weapon-thing?"

Iris shook her head. "No, Barry and Nora can't go back in time again to get what we need. This was our only chance at getting rid of it."

Cisco leaned back in his chair. "Well... Then I guess our best shot at defeating him lies with a certain someone we know," he beamed, looking pointedly at Caitlin.

The latter pressed her lips together and nodded, tapping her fingers against her arm thoughtfully.

There was a sudden gust of air, followed by a flash of fiery yellow, and Barry was suddenly standing in the middle of the room. He spun around, looking around the room in a way which made him appear to be very confused.

"Barry?" Iris said. "What's wrong?"

His wide eyes fell on her, then shifted to look at Caitlin and Cisco. "You- you're here? But..." Barry's voice trembled as he spoke. "No... I saw you..."

He started shaking his head. Caitlin noticed that he was sweating profusely, his hands shaking as he frustratedly pulled them through his hair. She rose from her chair and started moving slowly around the desk towards him. "Bar? Talk to us."

His eyes flickered across her face. "I- I saw you... and Cisco... she killed you - I should've stopped her... if I'd just... but I wasn't fast enough." Barry squeezed his eyes shut as though in pain, breathing rapidly.

"Come on, dude, you're not making any sense," Cisco said, frowning. He, too, moved slowly toward Barry, as though he were an animal that would scare easily. Cisco held his hand out as he approached Barry, reaching for his distressed friend. Caitlin realized what he was trying to do.

"It's okay, let us help you," she coaxed gently. "We're right here."

"No," he moaned, backing away, "no, no. I can't, it's my fault - I won't go on without them, I-" He interrupted himself as tears began falling down his face. "God, what have I done..."

Caitlin threw an anxious glance at Iris at his words. _I won't go on._ If he thought that they were dead...

"Barry, don't do anything stupid," Iris whispered wide-eyed, voicing Caitlin's concern.

"Iris," he breathed, his eyes filled with longing as he moved towards her. Barry took her hands in his. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, but I can't live with this-" His eyes filled with pain again, and he moved away, looking around the room for something.

"Cisco," Caitlin hissed, "you've got to do something. Reach him - the real him!"

Cisco nodded, moving determinately toward Barry, and placed his bandaged hands on his friend's shoulders before the latter could protest. He and Barry both gasped, and went completely still.

xXx

"How is this possible?" Barry said where he sat, leaning against the wall, as he rubbed a hand across his face.

He seemed to have calmed down significantly. Cisco had come out of the Vibe with a nosebleed, but it had worked; he'd managed to explain to Barry what was going on. That what he'd seen couldn't have been real, but they were.

"Must be a meta-human," Iris said, crouching beside her husband, and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, like, maybe the one you were chasing when you stopped responding to your ear-com," suggested Cisco sarcastically.

Barry frowned. "I was speeding after a meta-human?"

Caitlin tilted her head. "You don't remember?" she asked.

Barry shook his head, gazing up at her as though he expected her to have all the answers. She bit her lip. "Let me run some tests on you, okay?"

He nodded, and she took his hand to pull him up from the floor and started guiding him toward the medical wing.

"All we knew when we sent you after her was that she was robbing a bank," Cisco explained as they walked, "and when you got there, you said it was as though all the people there were frozen. Now I'm thinking they might've been frozen with fear."

"Isn't being afraid a pretty normal reaction when there's a robbery going on?" Iris intervened. Caitlin let Barry down on the bed and grabbed her stethoscope.

"Well, yes, but normally the robber asks you to get down on the floor so that you're less of a threat, and the workers are asked to get the money under threat..." He paused. "At least, that's what always happens in the movies," Cisco added. "But in this case, they weren't even moving. Barry, you described it as they looked as though they were somewhere far away."

"So, you think they were seeing things, things that made them just as terrified as I was just now," Barry deduced. Caitlin moved on to shine a light in his eyes.

"I think maybe she locked them in their own personal nightmare," Cisco concluded.

"But Barry wasn't locked in place," Iris said questioningly. "He ran all the way back here to see if Cisco and Caitlin were okay."

Cisco shrugged. "People have different reactions to fear. I would assume our hero here doesn't freeze up when he's afraid, while people who aren't usually running around doing the things Barry does on a daily basis, might have a harder time."

"That makes sense," Caitlin agreed as finished taking Barry's blood pressure. "There's nothing physically wrong with him, no drugs or poison that would make him see the things that he saw. I believe it was purely psychological; his brain believed it, which triggered the physical reactions to fear such as shaking, sweating and shortness of breath."

"So, we're looking for a meta that can make you see what scares you the most," Cisco said bitterly. "Sounds fun!"

"Not just what scares you," Barry said, looking down at his hands which he wrung around each other. "The worst possible thing you can imagine, like, the stuff of your darkest nightmares." He looked up at Cisco. "I told you before, when we fought DeVoe; losing both of my best friends, and it being all my fault..." He shook his head as though pushing the memory away. "Her visions are designed to break you."

"And when your brain is occupied with what it's seeing and hearing as though it were real, she's free to do whatever she wants." Caitlin shook her head. "We need to stop her."

"And we will," Cisco said. "She has to be on of the meta's created by the dark matter from the satellite, right?"

Caitlin nodded. "She's definitely not from the particle accelerator or the bus."

" _Guys_ ," Barry interrupted, his voice urgent. When they looked over, he was clutching his head, squeezing his eyes shut again. "It's still happening."

Cisco frowned. "I thought I stopped it when I got into his head."

"Seems your Vibes can't override whatever she manipulated inside his head," Caitlin said, moving over to Barry. She grabbed his hands and gently pulled them away from his face, forcing him to look at her. "Barry, we're _fine_. You need to believe that."

He grimaced. "I hear you saying that, but then I hear you saying that I should know it isn't real - I keep seeing you die!"

"What do we do?" Iris exclaimed, moving to her husband's side.

"I need it to stop," Barry moaned, slamming his fist onto the bed.

"I have an idea," Cisco suddenly said. He rushed out of the room and returned a minute later, holding a pair of power-dampening cuffs. "Let's try these."

Caitlin took Barry's hands once more, allowing Cisco to place the cuffs around his wrists. Barry immediately went still, visibly relaxing. He looked around, blinking as though he was seeing the scene around him for the first time.

"Better?" Cisco asked him.

Barry nodded and gave a small smile of relief. "A lot."

Caitlin smiled back at him. "The only problem is, we now have a meta on the loose and no Flash to fight her," she said.

"But we have XS," Iris suggested. "And Ralph, and Cisco."

"And Killer Frost," Cisco added, winking at Caitlin.

She nodded determinately. "Okay, but before we go, we need to do our research. We can't waltz in there unprepared - she'll lock us in our own nightmares before we can say-"

"Dreamlock!" Cisco grinned, making a celebratory gesture. "Still got it."

xXx

They were all staring at the monitors, trying to take in what they were reading. The meta's name was Annabelle Montassouri. Her brother, mother and father had all perished the night that the satellite exploded. Caitlin knew that was not a coincidence.

"No wonder she needs money," she said in a low voice. "She lost her family as well as her home that night."

"I can't believe we did this to her," Nora mumbled.

Barry suddenly looked stricken. "If she knows that we did this... it's no wonder that she would come after me. And if that's true... I led her straight to all of you at S.T.A.R Labs."

"We're all vulnerable," Iris breathed.

"Well, then we need to figure out how to stop her," Ralph said, "and fast."

Cisco held up his finger. "I have an idea," he said. "Maybe I can build some sort of force field that'll interrupt any outer wavelengths she's trying to send into our brains."

"That's good, Cisco!" Caitlin smiled. "That'll work."

"I'll get right to it." He marched out of the room.

Caitlin sat down in front of the monitors, trying to read up on her. "She must've been dreaming when she was struck by the dark matter from the satellite explosion," she realized. "That's how she got her powers. She's so in tune with the brainwaves of dreams that she's able to manipulate the ones of those around her."

Ralph seemed to think about this for a moment. "Do you think she can give you good dreams too?" They all turned to scowl at him.

"What?" he said, and, with a smirk, "Just imagine what she could do when you're-"

There was a loud crash down the hall. Caitlin looked at Barry with wide eyes. "Maybe it wasn't very smart to leave Cisco alone with a meta that wants revenge on all of us on the loose."

Barry shook his head, and they both rushed down the hall. Turning the corner, they found Cisco sitting on the floor, shards of glass spread around him. He was crying silently, and his knuckles were cut and bleeding.

"Cisco!" Caitlin called out, kneeling carefully beside him, avoiding the pieces of broken glass.

"Caitlin," he croaked, "I'm s-sorry!"

"Cisco, it's okay, it wasn't real-" Barry started.

"Barry," Cisco breathed, "oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't have a choice... I couldn't help... but I'll make sure it never happens again-"

He lifted his hand, revealing a particularly long shard of glass that he had been clutching. He pressed the sharp edge against his wrist...

"NO!" Caitlin reacted instinctively, reaching out to grab the back of the hand that was holding the piece of glass. She pulled it back, and the glass moved away from his wrist, but he was resisting her, resulting in a sort of tug of war to occur between them. Desperately, she took a hold of the shard of glass itself and yanked it out of his hand before throwing it several feet away from them.

"Barry, grab the power dampening cuffs!" she ordered him as she locked both Cisco's wrists between her hands in an attempt to keep him from hurting himself.

"Caitlin, stop," Cisco whispered. "Why are you doing this? I- I don't deserve-"

Barry returned moments later and immediately locked the cuffs in place around Cisco's wrists. The latter blinked, stunned. "Oh, thank god," he mumbled, closing his eyes briefly. "That was terrifying."

Barry squeezed his shoulder. "Whatever happened, it wasn't real, okay?"

"I know, but damn... it _felt_ real."

Barry nodded sympathetically. "I know, buddy."

Caitlin grabbed Cisco's arm to help him stand. "You okay?" she asked him.

"I think so..." he trailed off, looking down. "Are you?"

Caitlin frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Cait," Barry said softly, "you're bleeding." He reached out, gently taking Caitlin's hand in his, revealing the palm of her hand. There was a small gash where the shard of glass she'd pulled out of Cisco's hand must've cut her.

"Oh," she said and brought it closer to her eyes to inspect it, pulling at the edges. "Doesn't need stitches," she concluded.

"Caitlin, I'm so sorry," Cisco began, but Caitlin held up her uninjured hand.

"Cisco, don't, please," she said. "It wasn't your fault, okay? Besides, it doesn't even hurt."

Cisco just shook his head slightly, looking ashamed.

"Any point to keep working on that force field?" Barry asked. The question was aimed at Cisco, but since he still looked a little out of it, Caitlin decided to step in.

"Let's try and track her down to see if she's left already," she suggested. "If she thinks she's got us locked in our nightmares, she could be far away already."

"If she tried to attack the building, why was only I affected?" Cisco asked them.

Caitlin frowned, thinking about it. "She must need to be able to see her victims. That's why she could entrance everybody at the bank, but only take us down one at a time."

"But I've never seen her," protested Cisco.

"She must've been in here when you left to work on the force field," Barry realized. "She couldn't barge in and take us all on at the same time, so she found the perfect opportunity when one of us were isolated."

"Then that's the solution!" Cisco suddenly exclaimed. "That's how we stop her! We need to prevent her from seeing us."

Caitlin smiled; an idea was already forming in her head.

xXx

"I've got a ping on her location!" Cisco called.

"The game is on!" Ralph quoted, pulling down his mask.

"Be careful, alright?" Iris said, pulling Nora into a hug.

"Always, mom," she said with a laugh.

"Caitlin," Barry said, "you and Killer Frost ready?"

 _I was born ready,_ Killer Frost's voice echoed in her head, and Caitlin smiled. "Ready."

"Alright, seeing as I can't open a breach right now," Cisco said, "XS, you can run us there, can't you?"

"Uh, sure!" Nora smiled. "Grab on!"

From Caitlin's perspective, the world around her simply blurred, strong wind whipped through her hair, and then it stopped abruptly. She wobbled but managed to stay on her feet, looking around. They were standing in a dark and empty alley. There was a sudden small screech and Nora yelped, "Sorry!" as Ralph patted out the fire on his suit. The stretchy material of his suit appeared to be the least fireproof out of all of their outfits. Caitlin was wearing clothes in Killer Frost's style, durable and easier to move in if it came down to a fight, and Cisco was wearing his suit and glasses. Though he could not use his powers with the cuffs on, they were hoping Annabelle would be stunned to see that he wasn't broken by the induced nightmare.

"She should be right in here," Nora said, gesturing at the building to their left. It looked abandoned, but Caitlin suspected that was not the case.

"Alright, let's do this," Cisco said, rubbing his hands together.

Ralph opened the door and together they snuck inside, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Caitlin held her hands by her sides as she walked through the door, ready to produce an icy blast. She looked around as she entered, and the scene before them was... very odd. The room was edged in moving boxes. Square in the middle of the room stood a lonely bed with chains attached to the headboard.

"This girl is into some freaky shit," whispered Ralph, one eyebrow raised as he took in the room.

"Where is she?" Nora mumbled, turning her head back and forth.

There was a moment of silence as they moved through the room, all senses on high alert.

"Up here," a high voice suddenly called. They all looked up to where the voice came from. She was standing on a loft section of the room, resting her arms on the railing as she looked down at them. Her hair was raven-colored, her skin pale. But it was the blood-shot eyes and angry red burns on her wrists that drew Caitlin's attention.

She gave a cold laugh, and as she did, her eyes turned black. Her head began to glow, like an aura, except the light was an electric lilac.

"Now, Caitlin!"

 _Let's do this,_ Killer Frost said inside her mind.

Together they summoned the cold powers, bringing frost to their hands, and they sent it up - not straight into Annabelle, as they weren't trying to kill her. Instead, they let the frost cloud the air around Annabelle like a fog. Ralph started to make himself longer, reaching up to the loft to put power-dampening cuffs on her-

There was a shout and something catapulted out of the loft. It took Caitlin a second to realize that it was Annabelle - she had jumped. Before Caitlin knew it, Annabelle had landed on the bed in a swift somersault. The former along with Killer Frost started creating the frost again, but Annabelle's head was already glowing - a bolt of electric lilac shot toward her and sent her flying. Caitlin rolled across the floor and she stayed down, the wind knocked out of her.

Cisco, Ralph and Nora immediately moved in on her. Nora started running circles around Annabelle, creating a swirl of dust that made it hard for Annabelle to see. Coughing, Ralph threw Nora the power-dampening cuffs. She caught them and moved with super-speed to put them on Annabelle, but she was suddenly struck by the electric lilac energy and she too was sent flying. The cuffs were knocked out of her hands and sent skidding along the floor.

Ralph, standing several feet behind Annabelle, quickly elongated his arms so that he could cover her eyes with his hands while keeping his distance. Annabelle growled and started clawing at his hands, thrashing to get free, but Cisco had seized the opportunity. He dove for the cuffs, tossed them to Nora who once again super-sped toward Annabelle, and this time, managed to get the cuffs locked onto her. The lilac glow immediately faded away and Annabelle stopped struggling, looking stunned as Ralph removed his hands.

"We did it!" Nora exclaimed excitedly, and Ralph gave her a high-five. Cisco on the other hand was looking around the room, his frown deepening by the second.

"Uh, guys?" He said slowly. "Where's Caitlin?"

xXx

Nora had sped them back to S.T.A.R Labs, where they'd realized that the influence Annabelle had exerted over them did not go away until she made it so. This meant bad news for Caitlin, but they had at least gotten Annabelle to remove her hold over Barry and Cisco in exchange for not turning her over to the police. She thought she wouldn't have to spend years in prison at Iron Heights, but of course, little did she know that they were planning to keep her in their holding cells until they were sure she wasn't a threat to anyone anymore.

"How are we going to find her?" Barry said, pacing back and forth in the cortex. "If she's trapped in her nightmare... I mean, we saw what Cisco- he almost hurt himself-"

"Don't go there, okay?" Iris said soothingly. "She'll be okay."

"Maybe we can track her by Killer Frost's cold signature, just like we have before," Cisco said, starting to type on the keyboard.

"Bar, we'll find her," Iris reassured him. He nodded, but didn't seem any calmer. Then he suddenly stopped abruptly, his eyes wide. "That's it," he said.

"That's... what's what?" Cisco said confusedly.

"Killer Frost!" Barry repeated. "If she has any influence at all right now, she'd probably try to send us a message..." He disappeared in a flash of yellow lightning, and reappeared just as quickly, holding something in his hand.

He laughed breathlessly, holding up a post-it note. "'NOT a suicide note. The bridge. Hurry. -KF'," he read aloud.

Cisco rounded the table, closed his fist and opened up a breach. "You heard the girl," he said, "let's hurry."

Barry nodded, and the two of them stepped through the breach together.

xXx

 _Caitlin, don't do this!_ Killer Frost tried to convince her. _Remember, this isn't real._ _You want to live!_

"I know," she cried, throwing one leg over the railing, "I know you hate me. I thought this was what you wanted."

 _No, Caity, you're not hearing me right._

She groaned. "No, I hear you. One second you say you need me, only to tell me you wouldn't miss me the next." She pulled her other leg up and stood on the edge of the railing, looking down at the water far beneath her. The scientist part of her immediately calculated that she wouldn't survive the fall.

 _Iris, Ralph, Cisco,_ Killer frost said, _Barry. You know they would all miss you. They need you, they always will._

Caitlin shook her head. "You heard them as well as I did. They never forgave me for trusting Harrison Wells, or Jay-"

 _They never said that. Caity, Barry wasn't even at Annabelle's lair!_

"Y-yes he was, he was... outside, waiting for us. He hates me," she sobbed. "And Cisco, he hates me too, and Iris never liked me, I-" She hiccuped. "I'm all alone."

 _No, you're not. I'm right here!_

"- and you'll be here, ready to take over when I die, I know, you've said it about t-ten times," Caitlin whispered, and braced herself, leaning over the edge. Nobody loved her anymore. She wasn't even sure if she could love again. So what was she really worth? All the knowledge and education she had... it didn't matter if the people close to her despised her. No, it was about time that she ended it.

 _Caitlin, don't do this!_ Killer Frost begged her. _Please!_

"I'm sorry," she breathed, tears falling silently down her cheek. "You'll finally get what you wanted."

And she jumped.

Or, rather, she would've jumped, if her feet weren't stuck to the railing. She looked down and saw that her feet were enclosed in ice, edging all the way up her legs.

 _I won't let you do this,_ Killer Frost growled, _I won't let you kill us both!_

"Don't w-worry," Caitlin said, "you won't have to k-kill me yourself." She bent down, gritted her teeth, and broke off a piece of ice, sharp as an icicle.

 _Oh, for God's sake,_ Killer Frost swore, _where the hell are they?_

Caitlin moved the icicle toward's her chest, held it above her heart-

"Caitlin!"

She turned to look behind her. Cisco and Barry seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Her heart dropped. Had they come to spew out some more insults? To tell her how worthless she was, how much they hated her? She felt she'd heard it all.

Before she could even make a move, a streak of fiery yellow passed her by, and the icicle was suddenly gone. Barry stopped a few feet away, throwing the icicle onto the ground. "Cait, don't do this," he said in a low voice.

Did he really mean that? Caitlin pressed her palms to her forehead, grimacing. She couldn't tell what was real. Was she going insane?

Cisco was moving toward her. "Caitlin, I can help you," he promised. "I can show you what's real. Just let me help."

Her heart was thumping hard in her chest. "Why would you want to help me?" she cried. "You hate me."

Cisco frowned. "Why would we hate you?"

"You've been nothing but kind to me since I woke up from the coma," Barry said softly. "We've been through so much since then. I could never hate you."

"Neither could I," Cisco added, smiling at her, tears in his eyes. "I told you before, Caitlin, all the best moments of my life have been with you. You're my best friend.

Caitlin shook her head, her lip trembling. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She was shivering and sweating at the same time.

"Cait." Barry held out his hand. "We love you."

The words echoed in her head. _We loved you. Now we need you out of our lives._

 _And we won't even miss you,_ Cisco's voice echoed in her mind.

The pain in her heart went so deep that she felt like her heart literally shattered. In the blink of an eye, she broke off another icicle and stabbed it into her chest.

"NO!" Barry and Cisco yelled, moving forward, fear written plainly across their faces.

But for Caitlin it was only a short moment of pain, because Killer Frost finally managed to break through. They didn't shared the same mind - Killer Frost hadn't hallucinated what Caitlin had - but their body and the physical pain she shared, and it fueled her. Survival instinct drove her into control. She froze Caitlin's movements, stopping the icicle before it reached their heart, and yanked it out. The tip was coated in blood, and she threw it away, pressing a hand to the bleeding wound.

The moment of surprise was apparently wearing off, for Caitlin started fighting her for control again. Killer Frost felt herself weakening rapidly.

"Hurry!" Killer Frost shouted as her legs buckled. "I can't hold her for much longer."

Barry sped toward her. Killer Frost used the last of her strength to remove the ice that held Caitlin in place, and disappeared into unconsciousness. Caitlin wobbled on the railing, tilting backward toward the edge-

Barry grabbed her. Of course he did. When it matters, he is always in time, was Caitlin's last thought before the pain in her chest overwhelmed her and she passed out.

* * *

 **A/N: Please leave a review telling me what you thought! Do you want more chapters?**

 **Thank you lovelies!**


	2. The Aftermath

There was a lot of blood. Caitlin's hand fell away from her chest, revealing the stab wound in her chest. And she was bleeding out, fast.

"Cisco-"

Barry barely had time to open his mouth before Cisco opened up a breach, seemingly reading his mind. Barry put an arm under Caitlin's legs and wrapped the other around her back, lifting her into his arms. He sped into the breach, followed shortly by Cisco.

Barry stepped out of it in the cortex and continued with Caitlin into the small hospital room, putting her down gently on the bed.

Moments later, Cisco, Iris, Nora and Ralph followed him into the room. Barry was keeping pressure on the wound, but that was all he knew to do.

"I don't know what to do," he said desperately, looking to the people around him for answers.

They all wore stunned expressions, clearly just as clueless as he was. There was a tear on Iris' cheek, and Nora took her hand comfortingly, her eyebrows pulled low in a sad frown.

"X-ray," a weak voice mumbled.

Barry turned his head way too fast, looking down at Caitlin. Her eyes were open and filled with pain.

"What?" He breathed.

"You need to... see the extent of the damage..." Her eyes widened slightly. "What did you say?"

"Nora, get the power-dampening cuffs," Barry said urgently, and his daughter disappeared in a flash of fiery yellow and electric purple. Meanwhile, Cisco lunged for the portable x-ray machine and held it over Caitlin's chest.

"I- I don't know what I'm seeing here," he stammered. At that moment, Nora returned with the power-dampening cuffs which she quickly fastened around Caitlin's wrists. Caitlin seemed to relax slightly, although she was still in obvious pain.

"Show me," Caitlin mumbled, nodding at the x-ray machine.

Cisco froze the screen and showed it to Caitlin. Her frown deepened.

"Is it bad?" Barry asked.

"Punctured lung," she replied, taking a shaky breath, "could've guessed that one." She made a painful grimace as she took another breath. "Dizzy. Acute blood loss," she stated.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Iris said.

Caitlin started shaking her head, frowning.

"Iris is right, Cait," Barry insisted, "we don't have what we need to save you here."

"You know they'll-" Her breath caught, "they'll ID me as a meta," she continued. "They'll take her... take her away."

Nobody had to ask to know that she was talking about Killer Frost.

"That's it," Cisco suddenly said, eyes wide. "Killer Frost. She can regenerate!"

Barry squeezed Caitlin's arm triumphantly. "That's it! Cait, you need to bring her out."

Caitlin closed her eyes briefly, as if searching inside herself, but when she opened her eyes, she seemed confused. "I can't find her," she admitted. "I mean, I know she's there, but- but she's unconscious. Weak." Her breaths were shallow, wheezing slightly. It sounded painful and Barry winced in sympathy.

"Sedate her," Cisco suddenly suggested grimly. "Remember what Killer Frost said? She's awake whenever Caitlin's asleep." He turned to look down at Caitlin. "So maybe if you're sleeping, we can get her to wake up. She won't need the strength to break through your consciousness."

"That's a... good idea," Caitlin said breathlessly, closing her eyes in obvious pain.

Barry nodded and used his super speed to search the room for a sedative. He held the syringe above her arm, but hesitated. "I... I don't know how to do this."

Her eyes met his and, behind the pain, she was steady, calm. "Insert the needle into... into one of the veins," she instructed, and her breathing sounded sharp and uneven, "at about a 45 degree angle." Seeing that Barry was still hesitating, she gave him a small smile. "Don't worry, you... can't do that... much damage."

Barry nodded gravelly, found a vein, aimed the needle, and kept his eyes on hers as he injected her. Caitlin's eyelids almost immediately began to droop. They waited in suspense while Caitlin fell asleep, yet seconds and minutes ticked by and nothing happened.

Cisco hesitantly put a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. "Anyone in there? K-Killer Frost?"

Nothing happened, no sort of response or sign that Caitlin or Killer Frost heard him. A sort of beeping noise suddenly made itself heard and Iris moves toward the monitor. "Her vitals are dropping," she said urgently. "She isn't getting enough oxygen and she's losing too much blood."

"Cisco, bag her," Barry asked Cisco who nodded and immediately covered Caitlin's mouth with the bag and started squeezing it. "Is anybody in here the same blood typ as Caitlin?" he continued.

The expressions around him turned blank. They were out of their league.

Frustration grew inside of Barry and he turned desperately to grab Caitlin's shoulders, shaking them slightly. "Killer Frost, you once asked me to not let Caity die," Barry growled. "Now it's my turn to ask this of you. Do not let her die!"

"Look!" Nora called out, pointing at Caitlin's fingers. They were twitching slightly.

"She's starting to wake up," Cisco realized, his eyes wide with what has to be relief.

"Wake up, Killer Frost," Barry urged her. "Come on."

Her eyelids twitched.

"It's working, Bar, keep going," Iris breathed, her eyes wide.

Barry nodded. "Listen to my voice, okay, you can do it. Wake. Up."

She opened her eyes and— Barry cursed himself for feeling disappointed when he looked into Caitlin's warm brown eyes. But she blinked, and her eyes froze over, turning a cold shade of icy blue.

"Do I have to do all of the saving today?" Killer Frost said weakly. It was no longer Caitlin's sweet voice coming out of her mouth, but a hollow, echoing version.

Barry couldn't help but laugh shakily. He looked down at the wound in Caitlin's chest, and felt weak with relief as he saw that it was healing. The monitors on the screen showed that her vitals were stabilizing.

"About time, Killer Frost," Cisco said, closing his eyes briefly in apparent relief. "We were staring to think you wouldn't show."

"Hey, a girl needs her beauty sleep," Killer Frost croaked, and grimaced as she gave a painful cough. "What's wrong with us?"

"Punctured lung," Barry said grimly. "Caitlin was pretty out if it. It was touch and go for a minute there."

"Don't worry though," Cisco quickly added, "you're starting to regenerate. It'll probably take a while though."

Killer Frost nodded, and yawned. "Why do I... feel so sleepy..."

"We has to sedate Caitlin to get you to appear," Iris explained, placing a hand on Caitlin/Killer Frost's arm. "The sedative is probably still in your system, so you're feeling the effects too."

"Mind if I... give in and sleep for a bit?" Killer Frost mumbled, her eyes already half closed.

"I think it's fine," Barry said, giving her a small smile. "You've stabilized. Thank you," he added, "for saving Cait."

Killer Frost looked up at him from under heavy eyelids and smiled back weakly. "I think we're even now."

xXx

The outer door to the holding cells slid open and revealed Dreamlock standing cross-armed in her cell. She glared at Barry and Cisco as they approached the glass door.

"Come to uphold your end of the deal?" she asked sourly.

"We already have," Barry said calmly. "We agreed not to turn you into the police in exchange for you removing your hold on us. You won't go to Iron Heights."

"Oh, but you'll keep me in here?" She asked, rolling her eyes. "You got me good."

"We weren't trying to trick you," Barry said. "But we couldn't let you keep hurting people."

"Like you hurt a friend of ours," Cisco added sharply. "She almost died because of the things you made her see."

"Oh, your frosty friend? Let me guess, she can't stop trying to off herself?" Dreamlock said with mock pity. "She shouldn't have gotten in my way."

"Actually, we figured out how to cut off your influence," Cisco retorted, "but it's kind of uncomfortable to spend your life in power-dampening cuffs."

Barry crosses his arms. "We need you to take your... spell or whatever, off of her."

"And why would I do that?" she snorted.

"If you don't, we'll turn you over to the police and you can spend the better part of your life in a cell at Iron Heights," Cisco said in a low voice, "with all the other criminals."

Dreamlock laughed. "Go ahead. It's no worse than being locked in here," she said venomously, "plus, the cell's probably bigger there."

Barry anxiously scrubbed a hand down his neck. How much were they prepared to offer to get her to take this off of Caitlin?

"Fine," Barry said, "then what is it that you want?"

Dreamlock unfolded her arms and stepped toward the glass. "You know what I want!" she shouted. "I want my freedom!"

"You know we can't set you free," Barry explained impatiently, "you'll destroy people's lives wherever you go."

"You destroyed mine!" she roared. "Every night I go to sleep, I have to chain myself to the bed is that I don't hurt anyone!" She pressed her hands against the glass, allowing them to see the angry marks around her wrists. "As if that wasn't painful enough, I relive my family's death every time I fall asleep," she growled.

Barry felt the familiar spark of guilt inside of him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said earnestly. "It was never our intention to hurt anyone."

"Doesn't matter," she hissed, taking a step back from the glass. "It remains _your_ fault."

Barry nodded, meeting her eyes unflinchingly. "I know. I know we hurt a lot of people. But we did it to save millions of lives." Dreamlock snorted at his words.

"I know that might be hard to believe, but it's the truth," he said simply. She didn't reply, just crossed her arms and continued to glare at them.

"What do we do?" Cisco said, quietly enough that only Barry would hear him. The latter sighed, drumming his fingers against his arm. "It's not freedom you crave more than anything, is it?" He turned to ask Dreamlock.

She raised her eyebrows. "You tell me, _hero_." The word sounded poisonous coming out of her mouth. "You seem to know best."

Barry ignored the obvious taunt. "I think you want revenge more than you want your freedom."

Dreamlock's expression was set in stone. She didn't so much as blink.

"I think," he continued, "that you'd rather have one of us than stay free, but in hell."

Her flinch was so small that Barry almost missed it. She immediately grinned as though to hide her vulnerability. "It seems I already do have one of you," she smirked. "Is Frosty gonna die?" She pouted her lower lip.

"She's going to be fine," Cisco growled. He'd clearly let her words get to him.

Barry placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a look as to say, 'calm down.'

Cisco took a deep breath and gave him a short nod. Barry turned back toward Dreamlock.

"But I think you want me more than you want her," he said finally, tilting his head. "Don't you? The great _Flash_ ," he whispered, egging her on, "the hero who failed to save your family. Who actually in a way caused their deaths."

"Barry, what are you-" Cisco began, scowling, but Barry held up a hand to stop him.

"You can have me," he offered Dreamlock. "If you let Caitlin go and promise not to come after _anyone else_ ," he emphasized the last pair of words, "I'll go willingly."

"Barry, don't," Cisco scolded. "You know it's not what Caitlin would want."

"I know," Barry said, and there was pain in his eyes. "She'd rather suffer for the rest of her life. But I can't let that happen, not to her."

Understanding filled Cisco's eyes. He bit his lip and looked away.

Barry looked at Dreamlock again. She seemed to be thinking about it. "You're right," she finally said, giving him a cold smile. "I do want revenge. Bring me to Caitlin and I'll remove my power from her."

Barry nodded at Cisco, who pressed his lips together but opened the door.

Dreamlock stepped outside, taking a dramatic, deep breath, and turned to Barry. "But first, you need to give me your word that you'll uphold your end."

"What the hell does his word mean to you?" Cisco muttered.

"He's a superhero," Dreamlocked smirked. "You can't be that and not have a sense of honor."

xXx

When Caitlin next opened her eyes, the people around her witnessed the icy blue irises of Killer Frost's eyes flicker and be replaced by the familiar brown eyes of Dr. Caitlin Snow.

From her perspective, she opened her eyes to find Iris, Nora and Ralph standing around her bed.

"How are you feeling?" Iris asked her with a smile.

Caitlin carefully shifted on the bed, relieved to find there wasn't much pain. She could also breathe a lot easier than last she had been awake.

"I feel a lot better," she said honestly. "How long was I out?"

"Not long," Iris replied. "About half an hour."

Caitlin looked at Ralph. "Did you get Killer Frost to come out?"

He nodded. "Took some convincing from Barry and Cisco, but they managed to shake her awake."

Caitlin smiled and looked around the room. "Speaking of," she said, "where are Barry and Cisco?"

"Right here," said a voice to her left. She turned to look at Barry and Cisco, standing in the open doorway, both wearing expressions of relief. They were closely shadowed by none other than Dreamlock. Caitlin frowned. "What is she doing here?"

Cisco grabbed Dreamlock's arm and moved toward Caitlin. "She's here to take her influence over you off. So we can remove these." He bent down and unlocked the power-dampening cuffs around Caitlin's wrists. For a brief second, Caitlin narrowed her eyes at Cisco as though he'd said something mean. The truth was, Caitlin had heard him say something that hurt her more than any physical wound, but she didn't want him to know that. She knew it wasn't real anyway. Then Dreamlock touched her forehead, there was a brief flash of lilac and Caitlin could relax again.

"Better?" Barry asked her, approaching the foot of her bed.

Caitlin nodded, taking a deep breath. "A lot."

Barry tilted his head concernedly. "You okay, Cait?"

"I'm fine." She smiled reassuringly at him, then turned to look at Dreamlock, and the smile fell from her face. She looked back at Barry, eyes narrowed in confusion. "Why did she help me?"

Barry kept his expression neutral. "We made a deal."

Caitlin sat up straighter in the bed, ignoring the tweak of pain in her chest, and frowned. "What deal?"

"Barry, what did you do?" Iris said sternly.

"Can we have a moment alone?" Barry asked. Cisco stayed with them while the rest of the group filed out of the room, pulling Dreamlock with them. Iris stopped to touch Barry's arm as she passed him.

"We'll talk about this, okay?" She said softly. Barry just nodded, and she too left the room.

"Barry?" Caitlin said, growing worried. When she looked at Cisco, he was staring down at his hands, frowning.

Barry sighed. "I agreed to go with Dreamlock."

"What?" Caitlin had sat up too fast and was struck by a sudden wave of dizziness, causing her to squeeze her eyes shut.

"Whoa." Barry was by her side in the blink of an eye, touching her shoulder to urge her to lie back down. "Calm down, Cait."

She resisted, scowling up at him. "Why would you do that, Barry?" she asked. "She'll kill you!"

"She'll try," he corrected her. His features softened while he looked at her. "I had to. It was the only way to stop... that... from happening to you."

Her eyes widened with fear. "No. No, tell me you did not do this for me."

Barry tilted his head. "Cait, it's okay. I couldn't let you suffer like that just to save myself."

Caitlin look desperately at Cisco, but he just shrugged, surrendered. "I tried to stop him," he said quietly.

She turned back to Barry. "Don't do this, Bar," she whispered. "Just don't go with her."

"Cait, you know I can't break my promise," Barry said gently.

She stared at him for a moment, but when he didn't say anything else, she swung her legs out of the bed.

"Caitlin, you should stay in bed," Cisco told her scoldingly.

Caitlin just shook her head and moved to get up. She was immediately struck by another wave of dizziness and would've had an embarrassing face-first fall if not for Barry's super-fast reflexes. He caught her and held her until she was steady on her feet.

"Cait?" His voice broke. "What are you doing?"

"I didn't make that promise," she said gravely. "If you're going, I'm going with you."

"You nearly died like an hour ago," Barry scolded her, "you can't."

"I'm regenerating fast," she insisted. "I won't let you die for me."

"It's already done, Caitlin," he said sharply, and for the first time, he sounded angry. "This is how it's going to be."

"Barry, this city needs you," Caitlin begged, taken aback by his sudden rage. "Iris needs you."

Barry shook his head. "She, and it, did fine without me when I was in the speed force."

"What about me?" Caitlin said, and her voice shook slightly. "How am I supposed to live with this?" She gestured toward Cisco. "Or what about us? We need you, Barry."

Barry's anger seemed to fade at her words, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Cisco interrupted him. "She's right, dude," he said earnestly. "Central City needs the Flash. And we all need Barry Allen."

Barry seemed speechless. He just looked between them for several silent moments. Then he sighed, surrendering. "So what do we do?" he asked. "I have to keep my word."

Cisco grinned. "I'm glad you asked, my friend. I think I might have a plan."

* * *

 **A/N: Wow! I was so overwhelmed with all the positive responses to this story! Thank you all for leaving reviews and following/favoriting. It means a lot! Hope you liked Chapter 2! Please keep telling me what you thought and I promise there'll be more Chapters!**


	3. Sacrifice

"That's a great plan, Cisco," Iris said, giving the team a small smile. "No matter how much I dislike Barry going with her alone... I trust you'll bring him back."

Dreamlock was waiting in the medical bay in a pair of power-dampening cuffs while they all discussed. They'd told her they needed to say their goodbyes to Barry.

"But I am going to need some time," Cisco said.

"How long?" Barry asked.

"It'll probably be done within... maybe an hour."

Barry seemed to ponder this. "Okay, but I'm not sure I can stay here for that long. She'll know something's wrong."

"Well, you can't go with her without Cisco's inventions," Caitlin said, frowning. "She'll put you back in that nightmare and kill you long before the hour is up."

Barry shook his head slightly. "I'll be fine," he said. "It'll take us a while to get there without me running. And I think I have an idea of how to stall her for a bit once we get there."

Caitlin pressed her lips together, but didn't argue.

"Okay," Iris said, taking a deep breath, and looked at her husband. "We trust you."

Barry nodded gratefully, but looked at Caitlin with a small wrinkle between his eyes. He could tell she wasn't happy with the plan, and didn't want her to do anything stupid.

"I'll get to work," Cisco offered. He pulled Barry into a 'goodbye' sort of hug to keep the show up for Dreamlock, and disappeared down the hall.

"I want to come with you," Caitlin said, turning to Ralph and Nora, who together with Cisco would make up the team that'd go rescue Barry once he'd gone with Dreamlock.

"Caitlin, no-" Barry intervened, but Caitlin held up a hand.

"I'm sorry, but it's not your decision," she said gently. "It's theirs." She nodded toward Nora and Ralph. "If you'll have me, I'd like to come. I won't be a burden... you know what _we_ can do."

"Caitlin, you're not fully healed," Iris pointed out, her eyes filled with empathy. "I get that you want to help, but I think you need to take care of yourself too."

"I think my mom might be right," Nora added shyly. "We wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

"They can't fight well if they're worried about you," Barry said softly.

Caitlin had to admit they had a point. She sighed. "Okay, you're right. Just... be careful." She moved toward Barry who wrapped her in a gentle goodbye hug, as though he thought he would hurt her if he squeezed to hard. "Don't die," she ordered him with a smile.

Barry nodded, smiling back at her before he pretended to say goodbye to the others too.

Caitlin's heart clenched as he walked away from them to fetch Dreamlock. If anything happened to him, it would be entirely her fault.

xXx

45 minutes later they stepped out of Cisco's breach, landing outside of the abandoned warehouse that Annabelle, aka Dreamlock, used as a lair. Cisco was using Barry's coms to allow them to hear what was being said in there. They had been doing nothing but talking for about fifteen minutes. Barry had gotten Dreamlock to open up quite a bit, and she'd told him that really, she wasn't a murderer. But losing her family had changed her; she was constantly filled with rage, and getting revenge for her family was all she could think about. She needed it to end.

Barry had in turn shared his tragic past. How his mother was killed when he was young, by a man who he'd grown to think of as family. Then his father had been ripped away from him, not long after he'd been released from prison, acquitted of a crime he did not commit.

"Believe me, I know what it feels like to want revenge, but you don't have to do this," Barry was telling her. "We can help you. But taking my life... you'll never come back from that."

She snorted. "Don't you think I know that? It. Doesn't. Matter. I have to do this, for my family."

"Do you really think this what they would want?" they heard Barry say through the coms, and his voice sounded incredulous. "Wouldn't they want you to move on, live a better life than... this? I know that's what my father wanted for me. And he told me it's what my mother would've wanted to."

"Don't talk like you know my parents," Annabelle hissed. "You have no right, after you got them killed!" She was breathing heavily. Judging by how close her voice sounded, she must be standing right next to Barry. "No. Enough talking. After tonight, I will finally have gotten justice for my family. But first... you need to die."

There was a moment of silence, and the team that stood outside collectively held their breaths.

"What- what the hell?" Annabelle's voice suddenly said. "My powers..."

Caitlin exhaled in relief. Cisco's invention worked.

When Barry had left, she'd managed to convince the team that they would need her on this mission. She'd showed them the scan that said she was 98% healed, and they had folded, on the condition that she kept away from the frontlines.

Now was their time to enter. Nora and Cisco entered first, followed by Ralph and Caitlin. Nora zoomed toward Dreamlock with a rope in her hands, and in a matter of seconds, Dreamlock was all tied up. While she did that, Cisco moved straight to Barry, realizing him from the cuffs that held him to the bed.

"What the hell is this?" Annabelle called out, her voice filled with rage. "This was not part of the deal!"

"Oh, would you calm down?" Cisco rolled his eyes. "And before you try anything, it won't work. I've created a force field that will disrupt any cerebral wavelengths you're using to mess with our heads."

Dreamlock gritted her teeth, fighting the restrains. "So what are you going to do? Lock me up again?"

"No, Annabelle," Caitlin said softly, and either the tone of her voice or the use of her real name caused Dreamlock to flinch, "we want to help you."

"That's what he said," Dreamlock grunted, glaring at Barry, "but the only way you can help me is by letting me have my justice."

"Oh, come on!" Nora said. "That is so not fair! Why would you want to kill us? My dad and I, we didn't _mean_ to hurt your family. We were trying to save the world!"

Dreamlock narrowed her eyes at Nora. "You were there too? You crashed the satellite," she realized, and her tone turned poisonous. "Maybe I should've taken you instead of your father, then."

Nora's eyes widened, and Barry stepped in front of her, scowling.

"I've got this," Caitlin mumbled as she passed him. "I'll talk to her." She raised her voice again. "Annabelle, listen," Caitlin urged her. She slowly moved closer to Dreamlock, ignoring Barry warningly saying her name. "We're trying to tell you that we have something that'll help you," she continued. "You don't have to be this angry all of the time." She showed her what had been the cerebral enhancer, which would now function in about the same way Cisco's force field did, except it would block any internal wavelengths that Annabelle was unintentionally sending _into_ her own brain. "This will prevent you from locking yourself in your nightmare every single night," Caitlin explained. "You just place it on your forehead when you go to bed."

Dreamlock just stared suspiciously at the item in Caitlin's hands, still struggling to get out of the ropes.

"It won't permanently block your powers, I promise." Caitlin moved to place it on Annabelle's forehead, but the girl flinched away, glaring at her. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, Annabelle. Trust me, I- I know what it feels like to lose someone. Someone _s_ , actually." Caitlin took a deep breath. "It hurts, and you feel like you're stuck, and you think the only way to move on is to get revenge. But it's not. You can move on now. Start a new, better life than this. Just... just let us help you get rid of some of the pain and anger."

Annabelle had stilled, finally stopped struggling against the restrains. She was looking at Caitlin with a mixture of confusion and... almost awe. Or maybe even trust. Caitlin smiled reassuringly at her and held up the cerebral enhancer. "May I?"

Annabelle nodded slowly, and Caitlin leaned forward, placing it in the center of her forehead. Annabelle closed her eyes briefly. "You're right," she said quietly. "It all seems much clearer now." In the blink of an eye, she broke free of the ropes and slammed her head forcefully into Caitlin's forehead. The pain was blinding. Caitlin lost her balance and the next thing she knew, she was on the floor, her head throbbing violently. She looked around, and saw that Cisco was approaching her, looking worried.

Barry had wrestled Annabelle to the floor, his knees pinning her arms down, his arm pressed against her throat. She wasn't much of a fight with the cerebral enhancer on her forehead and Cisco's force field still active.

"You okay?" Cisco mumbled, placing a hand on Caitlin's shoulder. The latter nodded, and instantly regretted it. She clenched her teeth. "I'm fine."

Judging by the way Ralph stood protectively in front of Nora, Caitlin deduced that Annabelle had gone for her after she'd knocked Caitlin down.

"You didn't uphold your end of the deal," she heard Annabelle growl. "You were stupid to think I would uphold mine."

Caitlin kept her eyes on Barry as Cisco helped her to her feet.

"You can refuse our help and keep living in darkness, all alone," Barry said angrily, "or you can use what we've given to you to move on with your life. It's your choice. But we're trying to make things right here."

"You can never make it right," Annabelle retorted, but her voice sounded thick, as though she was holding back tears, "because you can never bring them back to me!"

"I know," Barry said, and some of the anger seemed to have faded. He'd loosened his grip around Annabelle's throat. "But like Dr. Snow here said," he looked over at Caitlin, "we can give you a new life. A better one."

He pulled back and got to his feet, letting her go. "Like I said, it's your choice."

He turned his back to her and moved toward the team. Looking at Nora, he said, "you okay?"

She nodded and smiled up at him. "All good."

Barry nodded and turned toward Caitlin, lightly gripping her elbow. "How about you, Cait?" His eyes studied her face concernedly.

"I'm okay," she reassured him, touching her fingertips to the sore spot on her forehead that was probably already turning blue, "it's just a bruise."

Barry nodded, but his eyes looked sad. "Let's get out of here," he said.

They started moving toward the door, but Caitlin noticed that Barry was lagging behind. "Barry?" she said questioningly.

He didn't reply, but took a few steps toward Dreamlock, who'd gotten to her feet looking appropriately scared.

"If you ever," Barry said slowly, emphasizing his words, "ever, hurt any of my friends again... I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life in a prison cell."

Before Caitlin could measure Annabelle's response, Barry had scooped the former into his arms and sped them back to S.T.A.R labs.

xXx

Once again, Caitlin had the privilege to occupy the hospital bed in the med bay at S.T.A.R labs. She deemed it to be a slight concussion, which would heal by itself in a weak or so.

Barry and Cisco were currently the only ones keeping her company, standing at either side of the bed, and she was more than happy to have it that way. She felt they had a lot to talk about.

"I can't believe you let her talk you into bringing her with you," Barry said, shaking his head disappointedly at Cisco, but he was only half joking.

"Oh, come on, we both know not a person here could've stopped her," Cisco grinned, "she even threatened to go all frosty on us."

Barry looked at her with an expression of both humor and some impressiveness. Caitlin laughed with them. When their laughs died out, however, the atmosphere suddenly grew somber.

"That was risky, Cait," Barry said in a low voice.

She shrugged. "I couldn't have lived with myself if I stayed and something happened to any of you."

Barry sighed, his features softening. "I get it. Gosh, I don't know how long that nightmare will haunt me," he mumbled.

Caitlin reached out and took his hand reassuringly. "It's okay," she said, and looked up at Cisco. "We're both still here."

Surprisingly, Cisco had tears in his eyes.

"Cisco?" Barry asked confusedly.

"My nightmare was betraying you," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. "I don't know what the reason was, but I still remember seeing that betrayal on your faces."

Caitlin took one of his hands in her other one. "Whatever the reason, I'm sure it was a good one."

Barry nodded and smiled at his friend. "Yeah, man, we know the only reason you'd ever betray us would be for the greater good."

Caitlin squeezed Cisco's hand. "We trust you."

He nodded and smiled at them. But then his smile turned into a frown as he looked at Caitlin. "You've been through a lot today, huh?"

She bit her lip, but tried to pass it off with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Nothing worse than what happened to you guys."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot I was also stabbed," Cisco paused dramatically, "in the heart, with an icicle! Oh, and then I got a concussion!" The sarcasm shone through his words.

Caitlin chuckled. "Alright, fine, maybe this was not a good day for me..." Her smile faltered. "It was the loneliest I've ever felt in my life. And it wasn't just that... knowing that you hated me- well, I just couldn't live with that."

Barry shook his head, looking upset. "We could never hate you, Cait."

"I know." She closed her eyes briefly. "And I want you to know, I would never do that to myself... to you... if I was in my right mind."

Cisco nodded gravelly. "I felt it too. I think her nightmares were designed that way, to drive you to the edge. It incapacitated you, and if you snuffed yourself, she'd probably consider her hands clean."

"Murder by remote control," Barry muttered.

"Speaking of remote... how did you guys find me, at that bridge?" Caitlin asked.

"Oh." Barry began to shuffle through his pockets, and pulled out a slightly wrinkled post-it note which he handed to Caitlin. She read what it said and felt her eyes widen. "I didn't even realize she went to S.T.A.R Labs that night," she whispered, and looked up at her best friends. "I guess I owe her a lot, huh?"

Barry nodded and got to his feet. "Thank her from us, okay?" he said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Yeah, give good ol' Frosty our best," Cisco said with a wink, and left the room.

Caitlin smiled at Barry. "I will."

He gave her a small smile, and touched his fingers to her hair lightly. The concerned crease reappeared between his eyes. "Heal, okay? We'll be right outside if you need anything." Then he, too, left the room.

Caitlin took a deep breath and looked inside of her. "Frost?" she said tentatively. "You awake yet?"

 _Yup_ , came Killer Frost's echoing response. _That was some seriously good beauty sleep_.

Caitlin laughed. "It seems we have a lot to talk about."

 _Do we?_ Frost's voice sounded unconcerned, yet here was a note of teasing in there. _Saving our life is just a Tuesday for me._

"No, I'm serious. Thank you. For everything."

 _It's nothing, Caity._ There was a short pause, filled with tension. _I didn't realize you felt that way._

Caitlin frowned. "What way?"

 _You think I want you dead_ , Killer Frost explained. _You think I wouldn't miss you._

Caitlin shook her head. "No, I know that's not true anymore. I remember... when that nuclear bomb went off... you asked Barry not to let me die. I know you care about me."

Killer Frost was quiet for a moment. _Okay, well, good._

"And I want you to know that I care about you too. You've saved my life - all of our lives - so many times." She bit her lip. "I hope you also know that I would never do that to you... take your choice away like that, if I was in my right mind. I respect you far too much for that."

 _Thank you, Caity_.

"We're in this together, right?" Caitlin smiled.

 _Very much so,_ Killer Frost replied.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter!**

 **I want to thank you all for reading this story, for reviewing, following and favoriting. It really means a lot! You are all lovely people.**

 **This will mostly be the last chapter, unless any of you has an idea of what should happen next. If you do have any suggestions, please do leave them in a review.**

 **I am also thinking about writing more stories about The Flash, so if you have any prompts that you'd like to see written then drop those too!**

 **Thanks again!**


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